Love

Long ago during my freshman year we read The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. I thought it was such an amazing book and I attempted to read another book by him but I somehow I was not driven to finish it.
I decided to spend my day at the library today and rediscover Paulo Coehlo books! I have been reading C.S. Lewis's book, The Screwtape Letter and I wanted another book that will inspire me as a christian.
I never knew Paulo Coelho believed in God and when I went into his aisle in the fiction section of the library.
I picked up a book, By The River Of Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, that spoke out to me! It was like if he had intentionally written this book about MY LIFE. The protagonist was a girl who is independent & practical yet restless young woman who is in college and searching for a greater meaning for her life. She falls in love and gets her heart broken, she is scare to suffer...but along the way she discover what is love..which is God.
That is only a combination of the preview that was written for the book and what I have read so far.
I am half way done but this book blows my mind. The protagonist reminds me so much of myself. She is practical, her only focus was school, she guards all her emotions not allowing anyone in, she has been hurt and scare to allow that to happen again. So has so many questions but yet have no answers or directions.
I usually don't like to read introductions. But Paulo Coelho is a GIFTED WRITER. His introduction gave me goosebumps, it made my heart race, and it made me want to breakdown. Everything he said in his introduction was all the answers I been trying to unravel.
His introduction talked about how love was the most important thing in our spiritual walk with God. :
"But ultimately there is no good reason for our suffering, for in every love lies the seed of our growth. The more we love, the closer we come to spiritual experience. Those who are truly enlightened, those whose souls are illuminated by love, have been able to overcome all of the inhibitions and preconceptions of their era. They have been able to sing, to laugh, and to pray out loud; they have danced...They have been joyful - because those who love conquer the world and have no fear of loss. True love is an act of total surrender...To love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that other the spark of God."

Sorry the need of a prayer came through after I quoted Coelho.

Lord help me to encounter your sweet and miraculous love for me each and everyday. Let it be reflected with the people I come encounter with everyday weather it is the coworkers I work with, friends that I may not be close to, or just my family members. I want to love COURAGEOUSLY and boldly with no fear of being let down...with no fear of being taken advantage love because great is HE that lives within me. God you're love and everything wrap into one. Love begins and end with you. I am able to love because you have loved me first. I am able to love because love bare all things...because love was the cross where you died for me. God there is no fear in true love. If true love is an act of total surrender well God I surrender everything to you! I surrender my broken heart and my dreams for the exchange of your glorious love. Your love keeps me...help me when I am in my lowest...in my family...in my education...in my relationships... and in my spirit God remind me and SHOW me your love. Guilt can't break true love. Shame can't break true love. Mistakes can't break true love. Brokenness can't break true love...if anything God all these elements only brings me closer to you.  I use to think that I was in love with this certain person but I was foolish to forget that love begins with you God. If a guy can't find my way to my heart through you...if he is not like what Coelho said, "to discover in the spark of God" if I can't find God in him, if he can't draw me closer to you and if he can't help me to fall MORE in love with you God. Then I don't want it. I don't want him. I want what you have ordained. I want God holiness. I want God for you to be the center of my joy in a real relationship. Lord I ask you today to forgive me for who I am. For the way I try to seek others in my weakness. For the way I rebel against you. For the way I over-think and I allow my emotion to get the better of me. For all that I am...I ask you Jesus to forgive me and wrap me in your love. An outpour of your spirit, anointing, and your incredible love...so I may love you even more. So I may love others courageously and boldly with no fear. God help me to be meek because love don't always have to be loud. Help me to love through my actions and through the simplest things...a smile...a gesture...or serving. Help me to be patient with people who easily gets on my nerve. I bind every spirit that are not of you. The Blood of Jesus. I come against Satan's lies. The Blood of Jesus against him. God thank you.
In Jesus Name, Amen.

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I did not intend for a prayer to be written but I was draw to do so. I did not intend for this post to turn out like this. There was so much other things I wanted to write about the book, about my life, and about love...but I feel like the prayer said what it needed to be said. So on that note.
Have a blessed night to my nonexistent readers. :)
May God's love overpowers you and inundate your soul whoever read this post.

- Courage Man